Wild Card Lee adds ITF J300 title to last year’s 16s championship at IMG Academy International; Unseeded Liutova claims second ITF J300 title; Orange Bowl starts Monday; USA’s Master ‘U Streak ends; Urhobo falls in W35 Daytona Beach final

Last year, Jordan Lee received one of the first Nick Bollettieri trophies presented to the IMG Academy International champions after claiming the Boys 16s title. A year later, Lee earned another Bollettieri statue on the same court by beating unseeded Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria 6-3, 7-6(3), capping an unlikely return from injury with a historic back-to-back performance.

The 15-year-old from Orlando was out for more than eight months due to a wrist injury. He returned to competition last month at the Junior Davis Cup in Chile and won every match he played in the US title race. Immediately after returning from Chile, he took his first ATP point as a wildcard on an M15 in Orlando, before losing in the second round.

This week Lee faced his first real test, with daily matches requiring both physical and mental stamina. And despite falling to third sets in both the quarter-finals and semi-finals, Lee found what he needed to shut down his older and more experienced opponents.

Despite having played on the same Stadium Court last year, when the 16s were switched to clay due to hurricane damage to several Academy hard courts, Lee admitted he had some jitters in his first ITF J300 final.

“I came out a little nervous,” said Lee, who was broken in the opening match. “I think I felt a little more comfortable on this track, especially after last year. But I wasn’t really thinking about last year, just about what I could do this year.”

Lee and Kisimov traded breaks twice, but at 3 Lee shook off the nerves and won 12 of 13 points to take a 5–3 lead. Leading 40–0 for the set, Lee finished at two, with Kisimov hitting two winners and Lee hitting a double fault, but an ace gave Lee a fourth set point, which he won when Kisimov caught the tape after a long rally.

“As I started to get warm, I loosened up,” said Lee, the first boy of two to win both the 16s and 18s titles in the tournament formerly known as the Eddie Herr International Championships. “I played very well the whole match. It was a great level from both of them; he played very well too.”

Kisimov, who was also playing in his first ITF J300 final, said he was not nervous but disagreed with Lee’s assessment of his performance.

“It could have been better,” said the 17-year-old from Sofia. “I didn’t play my best, but he played well. My serve wasn’t perfect today, so I couldn’t hold on to my games.”

Lee opened the second set with a 2–0 lead but dropped four games in a row, with Kisimov playing well and Lee making some of the unforced errors he had avoided by winning five games in a row. But Kisimov couldn’t hold the 4-2 lead as too many second serves led to a love break.

“Not many first serves, not enough speed,” said Kisimov, who is coached by Zlatin Mingov at Pro Sport in Sofia. “I returned great, but you have to have a good serve to win a set.”

Kisimov took a 5–4 lead and saved a break point with a forehand winner, but after Lee held at love, Kisimov was broken to give Lee a chance to serve for the match. He couldn’t cope and went down 0-40, and when his forehand caught the cushion at 30-40, he simply shrugged and prepared for the tiebreak.

“I didn’t think about it too much,” Lee said. “I knew I had to take it point after point. In the tiebreak I knew I had to stay calm, give my best after every point and make him work for it.”

Lee had some luck with a let-service winner to go 4-2 up in the tiebreak, then came up with an ace for 5-2. Kisimov came up with a forehand winner to stay within range, but a double fault sealed his fate and he could not return Lee’s deep first serve on match point.

A small punch towards his coach Sylvain Guichard was the extent of Lee’s celebration, a reaction that he believes will come naturally.

“I don’t know, I fell like I’m more of a calm guy, and at that moment I couldn’t think of anything,” Lee said. “I didn’t plan anything and I didn’t want to make it too disrespectful.”

Guichard wasn’t sure what to expect from Lee coming in this week, with so little match play since his return.

“I know Jordan has the level, but in a tournament like this a lot of things have to go right,” said USTA National Coach Guichard, captain of the U.S. Junior Davis Cup team in Chile. “He hasn’t played that much, but physically he’s in top form; that’s all he’s done in the nine months he’s been away, but playing on the pitch and competing is different. I didn’t expect him to be so fresh and last the whole tournament.”

In addition to a second Bollettieri statuette, with this year’s version featuring Bollettieri’s signature sunglasses, Lee will receive a wildcard into the main draw for the ATP Challenger 100 in Sarasota in spring 2026.

The next meeting between Lee and Kisimov is Tuesday, in the first round of the ITF J500 Orange Bowl.

The girls’ final, which was played at the same time as the boys’ due to the threat of rain later in the day, featured two players who had already won titles at J300 level. Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia, the No. 5 seed this week, had claimed the J300 in Santa Croce, Italy, in May, while unseeded Kristina Liutova broke through in August in the J300 in College Park.

With contrasting paths to the final – Liutova had not dropped a set, while Cvetkovic came from a set down three times – and no previous encounters, the championship went to the newer player, with Liutova recording a 6-3, 6-0 win.

Liutova’s only hiccup came when she served for the first set at 5-2, with the 15-year-old Washington State native missing several opportunities to close out the set with uncharacteristic backhand errors. But instead of surrendering to frustration, Liutova focused on the next match and broke Cvetkovic to take control.

“It’s always hard to finish, especially when you think about it,” Liutova said. “I just had to stop thinking about finishing faster and just play point by point, one point at a time, without rushing.”

Liutova had taken a hit from her matches earlier in the week, but after her 7-5, 7-5 win over No. 4 seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina on Saturday, she simply rested while Cvetkovic was still at the IMG Academy competing in the doubles final.

“Actually, my body is a bit tired,” said 17-year-old Cvetkovic, who played 11 singles and doubles matches during the seven-day event. “We played early today because of the rain, but I don’t want to say anything because Kristina is such a good player. She played so well, I want to congratulate her. It was a good match, not like 6-3, 6-0, but at 3-5 she hit some winners and all I could say was: well done, bravo. In the second set I had a lot of break points, but she played so well in the important moments.”

Liutova said she developed a plan and that helped her “just play tennis. I let myself play because I didn’t want to get tight and think about finishing the tournament.”

Liutova said her title at College Park gave her a higher comfort level.

“I think I felt more confident today,” said Liutova, who is coached by Ilya Osintsev and Tiago Campana at Gorin Academy in Seattle but traveled alone with her mother Elena this week. “Yesterday I was tighter, but today I just let myself play. I planned to just enjoy the competition, enjoy the final, because it is very special.”

Until Liutova won her quarterfinal against No. 8 seed Xinran Sun of China 6-1, 7-6(10), she had the prospect of qualifying for the Orange Bowl but refused to let that distract her.

“I was at this tournament, so I didn’t think about anything else,” Liutova. “I was just focused on winning the match in front of me. I came here excited to be here and I’m very happy with the win.”

The girls champion will receive a wildcard into qualifying for the WTA 500 in Abu Dhabi in February, but Liutova is unsure about her plans for next year.

Liutova will be tested early in the Orange Bowl as she has been invited to face No. 5 seed Annika Penickova. Cvetkovic, the No. 6 seed at the Orange Bowl, will face wild card London Evans, the girls 16s finalist in Bradenton.

The top girls seed in the Orange Bowl is Merida J500 finalist Victoria Barros of Brazil, with Laima Vladson of Uzbekistan as the No. 2 seed.

Yannik Alexandrescou of Romania is the top seed in the boys’ draw, with Jack Kennedy the second seed.

In the girls 16s, top seed Sofiia Bielinski withdrew and was replaced by a lucky loser. Boys 16 top seed Mason Vaughan won his first round match today against wildcard Mark Mrcela 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.

The dedication of the new Chris Evert Stadium Court at the Jimmy Evert Tennis Center, the new site of the Orange Bowl, will take place tomorrow at 10 a.m. This is from the Orange Bowl release I received today:

The five-year winning streak at the American Master U’ BNP University Games in France ended today when Great Britain defeated the United States team 4-3. For more information about the finals, see this article from the Tennis Recruiting Network.